Ethnocentrism and Iran

Ethnocentrism:

The term ethnocentrism refers to the tendency for each society to place its own culture patterns at the centre of things. Ethnocentrism is the practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one's own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior.

As it relates to this:

BRUSSELS — EU nations criticized Iranian authorities Sunday over the conduct of presidential elections and their "brutal" reaction against demonstrators protesting the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters in Paris his government is "very worried" about the situation in Iran following Friday's vote and postelection violence that erupted after the release of results Saturday.

Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the vote, which is disputed by his reformist rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Wow. The EU is upset because the losers are saying the election was stolen and are rioting? I've seen how the western countries have handled these things, too. Not a lot of difference when the pitchforks and torches come out...

But the routine western "the election was stolen" claim that's also making its way through the press just makes me wonder... So, is it just me, or are there others who are not surprised by the outcome of election?

I realize that the challenger was very popular with the Iranian middle class and moderates. However, the Iranian middle-class and social-religious moderates are a small part of the population. So, even though they did make some rather decent sized rallies in the larger cities during the election. But Iran remains, primarily, an agricultural and resource-extraction economy filled with working-poor. Add in decades of indoctrination to a very conservative, male-privilege Muslim religious view and that a reformer might roll-back some of those privileges... The results in the recent Iranian election should not be surprising in the least. At least if you'd been paying attention to Iran. No matter how much you personally believe the election was "obviously" stolen.

And if you think my thoughts on the subject are wrong... Look at any western election and how these issues play. For example, Bush won Ohio, even though the more liberal, urban areas went for Kerry, because the rednecks went overwhelmingly for Bush... And to think Iran doesn't have its own population of "bubba equivalents..." Whatever...

Post Script: I'm not saying it wasn't a stolen election. I'm just saying that automatic "everybody wants it like us and when things happen differently, it must be be a stolen election." I want to see proof. Not just wild accusations because you didn't like the results.